Magnetically actuated, reed-type switches are fairly-well known, and are quite reliable in the present state of the art. They are particularly valuable and useful in situations where electrical contacts are necessary, but the inevitable arcing of the electrical switching would be hazardous. Not only would the arcing be hazardous in combustible atmospheres, but the atmosphere itself may be damaging to the switch contacts. The oxygen in the air oxidizes the contacts; the caustic vapors in the air corrode the contacts; and the dust in the air causes malfunction of the contacts.
However, most of the reed-type switches and their magnetic controls are single units, designed for specific installations or functions, and may or may not be adaptable to other uses.
Compound switches are also very well known and have many types including the common rotary switches that can have a plurality of peripheral contacts to be actuated in a variety of ways, in continuous or reciprocal motions, to provide an almost infinite variation of switching functions. Each layer of rotary switches can provide several functions and many layers of switches can be used to provide various additional combinations of functions.
However, almost all of the rotary switches must have fixed contacts, and once a given switching sequence is set up on any one of the layers of switches, it cannot be changed without rebuilding or rewiring the switch. In any case almost all of the conventional, rotary switches would have the inevitable arcing problems that would preclude their use in certain areas, as well as the susceptibility to oxidation, corrosion and malfunction, as noted earlier. Lastly, almost all of these compound switches may be limited in the amount of current and voltage that they can carry without permanent damage.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a rotary switch with reed-type switching elements that can control relatively high currents and voltages without any potential hazard due to arcing or damage to the contacts due to atmospheric conditions. It is a further object of this invention to provide a compound rotary switch that can be set up to provide a series of complex switching functions, for any desired purpose, wherein both the combinations of switches and the combinations of the actuators of the switches can be varied at will to perform other complex switching functions, by very simple mechanical changes, without having to change any electrical contacts. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A rotary switch has a rotary, moveable portion pivotably attached to a mounting base. The rotary portion has a series of holes or slots positioned at given intervals around the rotary portion; each of the slots formed to accommodate a given magnet or combination of magnets. These magnets, or combinations of magnets, are designed to actuate one or more magnetically-actuated, reed-type switches that are positioned in one or more layers under the mounting base. The arrangement of the reed-type switches may be varied in any layer to cooperate with the pattern of magnets in the rotary portion to provide any desired switching function. The layers and combinations of switches within the layers may be varied at will, along with the orientation and combination of the magnets, to change the switching functions of the basic switch.